Chapter 84

The Failure Alchemist of the Royal Capital

Ice Golem Battle [1] #

The ice golem that stood in our way at the depths of the ice cavern. The floor was also covered in ice, making it treacherous underfoot. Faced with this formidable foe and difficult situation, we couldn’t move forward. And perhaps because there was still some distance, the ice golem had not activated yet.

“Daisy, can you use fire magic?”

“Sorry, I can’t.”

“Rin, as a blacksmith, you can use fire…”

“It’s different.”

Marc probed me and Rin, unable to fully grasp our combat capabilities, to see if we had any solutions.

…That’s right, of the four elements, fire was the only one I absolutely couldn’t use.

As an adventurer, fire magic isn’t very useful in the field since you might accidentally burn materials or can’t use it in forests, so I thought it wasn’t that important… Never did I expect to encounter a situation like this.

…It doesn’t have to be fire, as long as I can melt it. But did I have a method for that?

“We’ll change our boots to have picks, but can you two move around?” It seems Marc and Letia have special boots for situations like this that they can switch to.

“We have sharp claws on our legs. If Lady Daisy and Lady Rin ride on our backs, movement shouldn’t be an issue,” Leon, Rin’s holy beast, responded. Marc nodded after finishing changing his boots.

“…We can retreat for now. That thing is troublesome. But are we going through with this?” Finally, Marc checked with everyone. The fairy on Rin’s shoulder nodded while pointing at the ice golem. “There’s something here. We’ll take it!” After checking the earth fairy’s reaction, Rin gave a clear answer. The earth fairy then vanished into the air, seemingly reassured.

“If that thing is a variant golem, then its core holding its magic stone is inside. We find and destroy that. Got it?” Marc gave everyone one last confirmation. Everyone nodded silently.

“Rock Chisel!” I took the initiative, focusing my magic power and commanding the ground beneath the ice golem. Thick wedge-shaped rocks burst through the icy floor, shattering the ice golem’s body into pieces.

…Huh? Shouldn’t it be tougher? I was surprised that its body had shattered so easily, even if the damage wasn’t fatal.

A red, blood-colored core existed in the area that would be the golem’s heart if viewed as a person. However, the shattered ice fragments that had formed the ice golem did not fall to the ground, but remained suspended in the air, being pulled back towards the core to reform. “The core is in the center of its chest, the heart area!” “Roger!”

…As long as we know where the core is, this is just a matter of wearing it down! But the fact that my magic had shattered its body so easily when I expected more resistance left me with a niggling sense of unease…

“Leon! Get over there!”

“Understood.”

Carrying Rin, Leon dug his thick hind claws into the ice and powerfully leapt forward, closing in on the ice golem. Rin readied her hammer in both hands, bracing for an all-out strike. Unable to use her hands to steady herself, she tensed the muscles of her inner thighs to anchor herself to the holy beast.

“If I don’t finish it off, Marc, Letia, the core is yours!”

“Roger!”

“Uwoooooriaaah!”

And with that, Rin’s full-force strike slammed into the ice golem’s chest, shattering it and sending the red magic stone airborne. “Gotcha!” Marc dashed over and smashed the red stone to pieces with the axe-head of his halberd.

The fragments of the red magic stone, along with the shattered ice fragments that had composed the ice golem, rained down onto the icy floor.

“Yeah!”

“Alright!”

Rin and Marc celebrated their victory by knocking their arms together.

As we four basked in our triumph, the little yellow figure that reappeared on Rin’s shoulder frantically shook its head and waved its arms, indicating something was wrong.

“…I guess it’s not over yet?” Standing apart from the other three, I tilted my head at the frantic little yellow figure visible in the distance. And the answer came swiftly.

The interior of the ice cavern began to rumble, shaking as if struck by a massive earthquake. Part of the countless icicles hanging from the ceiling broke off and floated in the air, their sharp tips pointing towards us four. The yellow little figure hurriedly vanished.

“…Tch, so that’s how it is!” Letia clicked her tongue.

That’s right, we had been mistaken.

“The golem isn’t just one body. This entire cavern is the golem.”

Letia’s words left me confused. Golems were supposed to have a core, a magic stone somewhere in their body that had to be destroyed in order to defeat them.

“…But where in this huge cavern is the core…?”

With a whooshing sound, the icicles all attacked us four at once. Marc deflected them with his halberd, and Letia nimbly dodged the strikes. In front of Rin and me, physical barriers deployed thanks to our “Fairy King’s Protection Rings”, shattering the ice before it could hit us.

…We all avoided the first strike unharmed.

Then the sound of cracking icicles came again from the ceiling area. The cavern-mimicking golem was preparing its second attack. This time, it wouldn’t be just one icicle per person. And as if refusing to let us retreat, icicles near the entrance also broke off and floated in the air. We were surrounded by the floating icicles, a display of the cavern’s intent to not let us escape.